ObamaCare requirement — how does this provision cut costs?

I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time, but events overcame the ability to do so until now (Okay, I forgot about it).

What you’ll see with this particular provision is just stupid law. Granted, the entire law in which this provision is found is, in my opinion, stupid, but this takes the cake. But it also appears to be a politically motivated provision designed to make Health Savings Accounts (HSA) unattractive. I can’t see any other reason for it. George Scoville has written extensively on it. Here’s what he’s found:

Starting Jan. 1, 2011, you will no longer be able to use your Health Savings Account (HSA) to pay for over the counter (OTC) medications at a pharmacy, supermarket or other retail store without a prescription.

Examples of OTC items that will require a prescription for HSA debit card purchases as of Jan. 1, 2011:

Acid controllers

Acne medicine

Aids for indigestion

Allergy and sinus medicine

Anti-diarrhea medicine

Baby rash ointment

Cold and flu medicine

Eye drops

Feminine anti-fungal or anti-itch products

Hemorrhoid treatment

Laxatives or stool softeners

Lice treatments

Motion sickness medicines

Nasal sprays or drops

Ointments for cuts, burns or rashes

Pain relievers, such as aspirin or ibuprofen

Sleep aids

Stomach remedies

Yes, that’s right, suddenly many things that Americans buy without thinking twice about are made prescription items if you want to use your HSA to pay for them. And those would all be legitimate items for purchase with an HSA account. So ObamaCare introduces a hassle factor. What a great way to get people to drop their HSA for something easier and more hassle free – like mandated insurance, no?

But as usual, the law of unintended consequences drops by to say “hello” (the hassle factor is intended, this, probably not although you’d be hard pressed to figure out why they didn’t think of it):

Doctors at East Louisville Pediatrics PSC in Kentucky say they’re writing as many as 50 prescriptions a day for drugs such as Bayer AG’s aspirin and Pfizer Inc.’s Advil that don’t need a physician’s nod to be purchased off pharmacy shelves.

The trend, triggered by the 2010 health-care law, affects more than 20 million Americans with flexible spending or health savings accounts that let them use pretax dollars for medical needs. A U.S. rule that took effect Jan. 1 taxes purchases of over-the-counter drugs except for insulin unless the patient has a prescription, generating $5 billion through 2019, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.

Doctors, pharmacists, insurers and drug companies say while it may generate money to help expand coverage for the uninsured, the measure is driving up medical costs and creating unnecessary work. They want it repealed, expecting demand to surge at year’s end, when people have to use up balances in the accounts.

“It’s a complete waste of time,” said Conrad Flick, one of five physicians at Family Medical Associates of Raleigh in North Carolina, in a telephone interview. In many cases, he said, he’ll talk with patients by phone to determine why they want the drug before he feels comfortable writing the prescription. “So I’m spending an extra half-hour or hour of my day doing things that I don’t get paid for,” he said.

Administrative costs from the new provision are growing, said Diane Myers, administrator for the East Louisville practice that has eight doctors and two nurse practitioners who write prescriptions. “I bet we’re spending a minimum of 10 hours a week on these things,”she said.

10 hours a week that could be spent doing important things or, in this case, having a life. 10 hours a week lost writing prescriptions for aspirin, for heaven sake.

This is an “improvement”? This saves money? This is a provision that helps bend the cost curve down?

Yeah, it’s hard to escape that conclusion. I realize that one shouldn’t attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity, but in this case… Ah, what am I saying? Just about everything Bad Luck Barry does seems to be motivated by malice. Not saying that there isn’t a healthy dollop of stupidity, too, but I really think that the son of a b*tch is trying to collapse the system.

This is an “improvement”? This saves money? This is a provision that helps bend the cost curve down?

Yes, from the point of view that health care should be delivered by government. It saves the government $5 billion. Don’t you worry about the cost. As already pointed out, this result is probably not unintended.

Liberals. Democrats. What a bunch of control freaks. By not letting subjects – or are we still called citizens? – use HSA’s for these products the government has a little more control over us. Guess they don’t want people thinking for themselves, making choices, etc. And yeah the hassle factor is part of the fun for Dems too.